A Self-Limiting Achievement

Midjourney Follies | #39 of 100

Thaddeus Howze
3 min readSep 2, 2023

How does it help us

to create machine intelligence,

to promote its continual development

while training that intelligence on the detritus

of the human experience; to educate it on the tools

of a stagnant past while retarding the ignition of

the intellectual human efforts in our schools

by using the same tools which lead us

to limit our opportunities for

intellectual growth by

promoting the use

of said tools

rendering

us inert.

Artificial

intelligence

unchecked is a trap.

We are not prepared for the future

such enabling technologies propagate.

In fact, we cannot even imagine their like.

How do we expect our descendants to create

the utopian futures we imagine humanity to be

capable of achieving when we are not improving our

ability to imagine, to create, to dream, to innovate,

when our idea of education leads to our children

using the same AI which disenfranchises their

parents by emptying their jobs of

meaning, rendering them

assistants to the

productivity tools

now teaching their

children in AI classrooms?

Obsessed with answers, not learning

anything which can be found

found with a prompt

unable to learn

anything new

unless we

can

change how we

teach our children.

Fear should not motivate

them to use AI instead of learning.

The irony should not be lost on anyone

Our children will cheat using these tools out

of fear of being socially left behind, media-obsessed

but not media-savvy, they will think the tool is

the thing they need, not understanding what

the tool takes away every time it writes for

them, thinks for them, creates for them

it takes away the muscle memory

the emotional integrity,

the mental rigor which

comes from thinking

their own thoughts,

being frustrated.

Problem-solving.

Innovating.

Learning.

Instead, they remain

dependent upon the tools

they innocently used to cheat

when they make it to the workforce.

Born as crutches to fading human

intellect, these AI tools stand to

limit our development

binding us to now,

while those who

refuse them

evolve.

Choose

AI carefully.

The future depends

on humanity retaining

the capacity of independent,

rigorous, meaningful, thought.

our machines, our tools, cannot replace

the true value of human intellect: adaptability.

It is important to understand the value of real Human thought vs the so-called promise of machine-intelligence. Machines offer supposed efficiency without understanding the capacity of these tools is singularly focused on productivity without recognizing the messy and diverse intellectual breadth that is Human intellect. These are toys, barely tools, and nowhere near ready to REPLACE Human beings in the workforce. It can BARELY augment the skills of a well-trained, educated individual.

— Thaddeus Howze

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